Solar Incentive Tax Credit Bill Fails

A bill that would have extended the solar investment tax credit (ITC), which is slated to expire at the end of this year, failed to pass for the eighth time in a row. The bill, called the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 (S. 3335), failed to garner the sixty affirmative votes needed to move legislation forward. Defeated on the Senate floor by a vote of 51-43, the bill was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus (D-Mont), to promote American jobs, energy and families with targeted tax relief and incentives. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), only a handful of Republican senators supported the motion. “Without passage in the immediate future, tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars will be lost in new solar investment,” Rhone Resch, SEIA’s president told Solar Industry magazine. “Failure to extend the solar tax credits is a severe blow to an industry that has proven to be an economic engine for the U.S. at a time when we need it most.” SEIA is imploring members of the solar industry to contact their senators to urge the extension of the ITC. The next opportunity will likely be in September, when the Senate returns from its August recess.